


Beyond the Grave

by Veronica_Morningstar



Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Family Feels, Fluff and Angst, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:49:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,287
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28003416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Veronica_Morningstar/pseuds/Veronica_Morningstar
Summary: After Charlotte Richards’s sacrifice, the people on Earth she left behind are struggling to move on. When Charlotte decides to take a trip back down one day, she’s not pleased with what she finds.
Relationships: Amenadiel & Original Charlotte Richards, Chloe Decker & Original Charlotte Richards, Dan Espinoza & Original Charlotte Richards, Ella Lopez & Original Charlotte Richards, Eve & Original Charlotte Richards, Lucifer Morningstar & Original Charlotte Richards, Trixie Espinoza & Original Charlotte Richards
Comments: 6
Kudos: 22





	1. Taken Away too Soon

Amenadiel and Charlotte were sitting a park bench, just talking. It was very nice, familial even. They talked about Heaven and whether or not she was a good enough person, and then it happened.

It was quick.

Amenadiel blinked and suddenly she was in front of him. Her arm was outstretched as if she was shielding him from imminent danger. If he had seen the bullet, he could have slowed down time and moved her away from its path. He had only realized after she was already bleeding out in front of him.

“I’m going to get help, Charlotte, just hold on,” Amenadiel whispered.

They both knew that those were empty words.

He wanted her to stay. She had become like his confidante over the last few months. After his mother’s departure, he had felt lost, but Charlotte changed all that. He sought her out at first because he was desperate to hold on to any memory of his mother, then he began to enjoy their visits. Charlotte recognized how much pain he was in, and slowly tried to help him heal. If he called her mom once or twice by accident, she never minded. She actually mentioned that she quite liked it, ever since she had lost custody of her own kids she was longing for a parental connection.

“Don’t go,” Amenadiel begged. He sounded weak, childish, he didn’t care in the slightest. “Don’t go m—”

The word died on his lips. This wasn’t her. It wasn’t his mother dying, it was Charlotte Richards.

“Go on, you can say it,” Charlotte said, her voice gentle.

Her voice always took that tone in the past when he had slipped up, a bit surprised but secretly happy. His heart always warmed when he saw the small smile that often curled at the corners of her mouth after he said it. He began to do it more and more just so he could see her smile.

“Please don’t leave me, mom,” Amenadiel said quietly.

“I’ve already cheated death once, I think twice is asking too much,” Charlotte joked, and Amenadiel cracked a sad smile.

“Don’t worry, maybe I’ll come back to visit,” Charlotte suggested.

“That’s not possible,” Amenadiel said.

“I’ll find a way, I promise you,” Charlotte said confidently.

She sounded so sure that Amenadiel didn’t have the heart to correct her. She took her last breath with her palm resting on his cheek, and he held her hand there as he sobbed.

“Let’s go home,” Amenadiel said softly, knowing without looking that his wings and angelic abilities had been fully restored.

He carried her in his arms gingerly as he took off into the air, flying up to the Silver City. He no longer wanted to go home, but Charlotte deserved it.

* * *

Everyone at the precinct took Charlotte’s death hard. Dan Espinoza buried himself in his work, Chloe Decker took a few days off to compose herself, Ella Lopez binged a couple seasons of her favorite shows, and Lucifer Morningstar downed as much alcohol as he could. It was a rough couple of weeks. They had lost a friend—or in Dan’s case, something more—and they were all mourning her loss in their own ways and times.

No one expected it to be as rough as it was. They were all struggling in one way or another. Eventually, someone upstairs heard their silent cries and intervened. She was NOT happy with what she found.


	2. Lucifer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Charlotte returns to Earth, she visits everyone’s favorite devil first.

The penthouse was quiet, except for the unsteady notes of a piano. Lucifer Morningstar sat at the keyboard, a drink clutched in one hand as he slowly played a melancholy melody with the other. He wasn’t drunk of course, he couldn’t get inebriated thanks to his angelic metabolism, but there wasn’t anything he wished more at the moment.

A soft glow of light pulsed behind one of his Roman columns, and Charlotte Richards appeared. She had wanted to check up on everyone she had left behind on Earth, just to see how they were doing in the wake of her death.

When she saw how disheveled Lucifer looked, she was not happy. He had been drinking again, and without realizing it her mouth pressed into a thin line. She didn’t know if she was the reason or not, but it needed to stop.

“Lucifer,” Charlotte said quietly so she didn’t startle him. 

“Brother, you know you can just take the elevator!” Lucifer said, slightly annoyed.

When he saw Charlotte he froze.

“Mum?” Lucifer choked out, not believing his eyes.

It was a hallucination, it had to be. He had lost count of how many drinks he’d had sometime after the fifth glass.

“Lucifer, it’s Charlotte,” Charlotte said, coming over and gently removing the glass from his hands. “I think you’ve had enough.”

Lucifer’s eyebrows drew together in confusion and he backed away.

“You’re dead, you’re not real!” Lucifer said frantically. “I’m just hallucinating!”

“Shh, shh,” Charlotte said, reaching up to smooth his unruly hair and letting her hand linger on his cheek. “How long has it been since you’ve slept?”

If the dark circles under his eyes were any indication, it hadn’t been in a while.

“I’m an Angel,” Lucifer replied stubbornly. “I don’t need sleep.”

“Yes you do,” Charlotte said firmly. “Come with me, you’re going to bed right now.”

“You’re not my mom, you can’t tell me what to do!” Lucifer argued. Charlotte detected a whine in there, and she was _not_ having that.

“Don’t talk back to me young man!” Charlotte said sharply. “Upstairs, now!”

Lucifer huffed, but allowed her to guide him to his bed.

“Get undressed, and when I come back you better be in pajamas,” Charlotte said, her voice leaving no room for argument.

Charlotte left his side to fetch his a glass of water. When she came back, she was pleasantly surprised that he had actually listened.

“Can you stay?” Lucifer asked.

“Of course,” Charlotte said, self-consciously tucking him in just like she had done a hundred times for her own kids.

“My real mom left, but you’re nicer than her,” Lucifer said. “One time she threw Amenadiel and I into a piano.”

“Your brother told me about that, I am so sorry,” Charlotte said. “I hope you know that I would never hurt you or Amenadiel.”

“I know,” Lucifer mumbled, “because you’re a good person.”

Charlotte chucked a little. He had no idea how hard she had tried to become one.

“Did your mom ever tuck you in?” Charlotte said. She had no idea where that had come from, but Lucifer answered anyway.

“No, she wasn’t really nice to me or my siblings after Dad created humanity,” Lucifer said, “I tucked myself in. She never even said goodnight.”

“I think I want to change that,” Charlotte said. “Do you want me to sing to you?”

Lucifer didn’t know what possessed him to say yes, but he was glad he did. Charlotte’s voice was soft and soothing, and tears prickled at his eyes as he remembered his own mother singing long ago.

“ _You are my sunshine, my only sunshine._

_You make me happy, when times are gray._

_You’ll never know dear, how much I love you._

_Please don’t take my sunshine away.”_

She stroked his hair absentmindedly as she sang, feeling him relax. She heard him start to snore quietly after she repeated the lullaby a second time, and she smiled down at him fondly.

“Goodnight Lucifer,” Charlotte whispered, kissing him softly on the forehead.

“Goodnight mum,” Lucifer mumbled sleepily, “love you.”

“I love you too,” Charlotte replied, and she meant it with all her heart. 


	3. Chloe

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charlotte visits Chloe and Trixie.

  
Chloe Decker stirred her coffee as she poured over a case file by the kitchen light. Trixie had already been in bed for hours. Chloe stifled a yawn and took a sip of the now-lukewarm liquid. 

“It’s late, Chloe. You should go to bed.” 

Chloe looked around for the source of the mysterious voice. When her eyes landed on Charlotte Richards, she almost fell off of her stool.

“I really should if I’m seeing and hearing dead people,” Chloe said, chuckling to herself. 

Her decision was further cemented when her hallucination actually removed the case file from her hands and brought her coffee cup to the sink. She was seriously sleep-deprived. 

“Your father sent me down,” Charlotte said, “he’s such a lovely man, so polite and very proud of you.”

At the mention of John Decker, Chloe stopped moving. She turned back to face Charlotte, who was now washing the mug in the sink.

“You’re not a hallucination,” Chloe said, her lip trembling, “you’re really Charlotte Richards, aren’t you?”

Charlotte nodded slightly, a faint smile on her lips. 

Chloe didn’t know what made her want to run across the kitchen and fling herself into Charlotte’s arms, but she did. The other woman gracefully caught her and held her close. 

“Did you actually meet my father? Is he okay? Is he happy?” Chloe said quickly. 

“Yes, he’s very happy and perfectly healthy. All he talks about is how proud he is of his little monkey becoming a detective and following in his footsteps,” Charlotte said, leading Chloe over to the couch. “He told me to tell you that he loves you, your mother, and Trixie very much.”

Chloe sniffed, her eyes brimming with tears. 

“Thank you, Charlotte. You-you don’t know how much this means to me. Sometimes I just r-really miss him!”

“I understand. I’ve missed you all terribly,” Charlotte said, “but the most important thing to remember is that those who love us never forget us.”

“My mom never followed that rule when I was growing up,” Chloe said bitterly. “I had to be exactly what she wanted me to be all the time, or else I was overlooked by her in favor of another role or protégé she wanted to mold to her idea of success.”

“That must have been frustrating,” Charlotte said sympathetically.

“It was impossible to always be up to her standards! It got even harder when my dad died, she buried herself in her work and wanted me to do the same. I quit acting and she was furious. I was hurting and she never cared enough about me to realize it!” Chloe said, almost yelling. She was caught up in memories now, hot tears rolling down her face. 

Charlotte went to grab a tissue and used it to gently wipe Chloe’s tears away. Chloe couldn’t remember the last time someone had done that for her, and it didn’t feel awkward at all. She liked it more than she wanted to admit. It felt very motherly, something she sorely missed with her own mom. Penelope Decker was not really the hugs-and-kisses type, more the passive-aggressively pointing out your flaws type. 

“There we go,” Charlotte said with a small smile. “Now we can see how pretty you are.”

Chloe giggled at that.

“Sorry, that’s just something I used to do with my daughter when she came crying to me,” Charlotte said apologetically.

“Don’t be, I thought it was nice,” Chloe said. “My dad usually was the one to wipe my tears though, my mom was too busy filming.”

“Well, now you have me,” Charlotte said winking. 

Chloe flashed her a grateful smile. 

“Thank you for everything, you made me feel a bit better.”

“No need to thank me, I’m just making sure all of you are doing okay,” Charlotte said. “It’s the least I can do after leaving Earth because of less-than-ideal circumstances.”

“Your death hit all of us really hard,” Chloe said. “Dan especially.”

“I imagine,” Charlotte said quietly. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay, you’re here now,” Chloe replied, “that’s all that matters.”

Charlotte gave her a small smile.

“Mommy, who are you talking to? Is Lucifer here?” Trixie said sleepily, coming out of her room. 

“No monkey,” Chloe said. “I’m just talking to myself.”

“Chloe, she can see me,” Charlotte informed her. 

“Charlotte!” Trixie exclaimed with joy, running up and hugging her. Then she suddenly froze and shook her head. “Wait, but you died. Mommy told me.”

“I did,” Charlotte said, not wanting to lie and confuse her further. “I decided to come back to check up on everyone I left behind.”

“Did you miss us in Heaven?” Trixie asked.

“Very much,” Charlotte replied. 

“What’s it like?” Trixie chirped. “Are there really golden gates?”

“Why don’t I tell you while you get back into bed? It’s late and I’m sure you have to get up early for school tomorrow,” Charlotte said, gently guiding her back to her room. 

Chloe heard Trixie’s excited voice behind her closed bedroom door and smiled softly to herself. She figured Charlotte had it under control and re-opened the case file in front of her. That was where Charlotte found her ten minutes later, asleep with the papers spread out on her lap. Charlotte shook out a blanket and covered her with it, putting the file on the coffee table.

“Charlotte?” Chloe said sleepily.

“Sleep sweetheart, you’ve had a long day,” Charlotte said softly.

“Is Trixie asleep?” Chloe asked.

“Yes, but now you need to,” Charlotte said gently. 

“Charlotte, will you stay?” Chloe said timidly. “I-I don’t feel like being alone right now.”

Chloe didn’t know where that came from. She chalked it up to extreme sleep-deprivation. She had been pulling a couple of all-nighters lately on this case. Focusing on work was her way of distracting herself from Charlotte’s death.   
  
“Of course,” Charlotte replied, sitting back down on the couch. 

When Chloe woke up, Charlotte was gone. 

“I had the weirdest dream,” Chloe said aloud. “I really need to stop pulling all-nighters.”

Charlotte stood outside in the backyard and smiled softly, the sunrise making her hair glow like a halo.  



End file.
